TWO: The Party

Since Henry loves construction vehicles so much, it seemed the logical theme for his birthday! Because his birthday falls 5 days after Christmas, I knew I had to keep things SIMPLE since extra time around the holidays is very hard to come by!  Keeping things simple was an especially difficult task given the addition of Pinterest in my life.  As a note, my friend Erin, featured Henry's party on her blog. I had to borrow a couple of her photos because they were quite a bit better than mine, hence the "Lansdowne Life" watermark.  To see her full write up of the party, click here!

Henry's party was a brunch-time gig on New Year's Eve.  I know people have places to be on that day, so in addition to simple, I wanted the party short and sweet.  The invites were super easy to quickly whip up on my computer with some really cute clip art I came across.  And I already had the brown paper on hand.  The picture was kind of an afterthought and I had to go and dig one up from Thanksgiving.  I would have preferred something outside and less shadow-y.  But, I let it go and knocked the invites out pretty early, which helped.

Decorations were very easy.  Much of the items we had at our house already.  I raided Jason's tool bench and borrowed some other things from my parents.  I bought a roll of Caution tape from Home Depot and used it everywhere I could....

 

I was also able to borrow some cones and this large Tonka truck from playgroup friends.  The wreath is something I attempted to copy from Pinterest.  It was tough to make and I gave up about half way through.  The end result was fine and I received several compliments on it, but sheesh what a pain!

The mantle decor was easy and free and fun to "build". The banner was one of my favorite decorations at the party.  I'm glad my parents had a crazy surplus of odds and ends to give it some character.

Party favors were also surprisingly cheap and easy!  I printed off a label for each hard hat and each little builder walked out with a pint-sized Home Depot apron too.

I didn't go all crazy with making the food match the theme (although I would have liked to!), but I did make up some oreo balls to serve in one of Henry's dump trucks.

How awesome is our family that some people showed up dressed to match the theme?!?  And he wasn't the only one!!

Aunt Janice made the cake and it was perfect!  And what a relief not to have to worry about getting it together before the party. 

Henry loved the party and it pretty much went off without a hitch.  He did nearly set himself on fire when attempting to blow out his candles, but other than that the goals were met--simple, short, and sweet.  Happy #2 Henry!

Henry Turns TWO!

 Just 5 short days after Christmas, Henry turned TWO!  He started the morning out opening presents.  Since he had just received a large amount of Christmas toys, we went pretty light this year.  He got a membership to the Museum of Transportation from us, a book of (desperately needed) "boy" stickers, and a box of beans sensory box.  Amelia bought him a pair of "vroom vroom" slippers.

 

The sensory box was a huge hit when our Parents As Teachers educator brought one over during a visit, so we thought we would make Henry his own.  I am hoping to change it often and adding seasonally appropriate pieces into the box as needed.  So far, it has been a big hit with Amelia and Henry (and every other child who has given it a try while visiting).

 Amelia really felt like Henry needed a special birthday breakfast, so she and Jason came up with a little design incorporating his pancakes and dried fruit.  And since he loves all vehicles (and particularly construction ones), he thought this was great.

So we sang "Happy Birthday" to him and then I really thought he was going to catch himself on fire trying to blow out the candles!

Since it was a fairly warm day (for December 30), we decided to put that membership to use and take him to the Museum of Transportation.  

After some lunch and naps, we picked up where we left off with more singing and some yummy cupcakes!

They were a hit with everyone!

This is the best place, I suppose, to mention Henry's two year stats:

Height: 37 3/4" (still off of the chart >than 97th percentile)

Weight: 29 lbs. (62nd percentile--he made up some ground!)

Head Circumference: 49 3/4 cm

And a little about Henry at age two...

Clothing size: pants 2T, shirts 2T/3T

Shoe size: 8

Diaper size: 5

Loves: cars, firetrucks, construction trucks and really anything with wheels, cats, horses, Amelia (at times), bath time and ALL puzzles

Dislikes: vacuum, dark rooms, having his diaper changed, Amelia (at times)

Favorite books: any of the truck books, Goodnight Moon, Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Christmas '11

Well, I had some doubts, but I've finally made it to our Christmas post!  We were not woken up so very early in the morning (around 7:30 am!) and I barely had time to grab my camera and snap a quick (side view) picture of the post-Santa visit tree.

Then, I turned just in time to catch a picture of Amelia and Henry giving each other a quick, excited hug before coming down and discovering the goodies Santa left. (Please ignore my mid-paint job hallway.  Thank goodness that is FINALLY done!).

Amelia immediately spotted her #1 gift!  And she was pretty pumped!

Henry, on the other hand, really did not know what to think.  He stood on the steps for 5 solid minutes saying, "Santa, choo choo? Santa, choo choo?". (At least I think it was a question).  He did not ask for a train table, so it was really a pretty big surprise to both of them!

And Santa picked a pretty good gift, in fact!  It may be the number one toy played with in our house these days.

After opening the gifts, Amelia put on her new robe, had some hot cocoa, and tried out her new Monopoly Jr. game.  It is a super game for her and we've played in many times since!  In fact, it was a great year for games for Miss Amelia.  Other than Monopoly, Jr., she received Headbandz, Story Cubes, UNO, Trouble, and Qwirkle. 

Then it was off to my parents house to open gifts.  Turns out Kit wasn't only a hit with Amelia!

My nephew, Jacob, opening some Transformer play doh.

Henry looking rather dapper.

My dad is a very hard person to shop for.  Whenever I ask him what he would like for Christmas, he always says things like "handkerchiefs" and "socks".  This year, I pushed a little harder and he said he would like some sweatpants with elastic on the bottom and pockets.  He was very clear that he didn't want any "boring" colors like grey or black.  He requested bright blue, red, or green.  My mom told me NOT to pursue it, but I couldn't help it! The man never makes such specific requests.  They were very difficult to find, much more difficult than I could have imagined.  But, find them I did and I'm pretty sure I made his Christmas morning!

My mother-in-law made an incredible scrapbook for Amelia of her first two trips to Disney!  Amelia loves looking at it (and I do too!).  She did a great job and hopefully we will be adding some more pictures to it soon (like this winter when we return to Orlando!). Such a special gift!

When I got wind that Santa was bringing Amelia a new doll, I found a lady that could make matching PJ's for her and the doll.  She was very excited to put them on that night (and seems completely oblivious to the fact that the pajamas are about 3 sizes too big for her)!

Henry's favorite gift of the night may have been this box lid.  He kept saying "more boat ride, more boat ride".  It's true what they say about boxes and kids.  Sheesh.

 

What a fabulous Christmas where my family was spoiled once again!  We really are blessed in so many ways.

Best of Friends

After a few rocky months on the sibling home front, these two have become much closer these last few weeks.  They love to play together, laugh together, bathe together, and have even begged to sleep together on many occasions.  Amelia is really an amazing big sister when she wants to be and Henry wants nothing more than to be just like her and do whatever she is doing (and saying).  

I know there can't always be nothing but love between them, so I'm going to make extra efforts to catch them in these sweet, sweet moments.   

School Christmas Party

I don't have too many pictures from the kindergarten class Christmas party, but I was so happy that I got to come and enjoy it with Amelia.  I was in charge of running the Bingo game, so I only got a minute or two to snap some pictures with my phone.

Amelia DOMINATED in musical chairs (doesn't she look fierce?)!  And, in the end, she beat out one of the priests to take home the Musical Chairs Champion Trophy (which may or may not have been a mini bag of M&M's).

She thought this cupcake was great!  Then, she licked most of the icing off and was on to the next station.

This is the whole kindergarten crew this year and her teacher, Mrs. Bell!  It is hard to believe that the year is halfway over!

Amelia's Bed

.....is Henry's favorite place to sneak off to during the day while she is at school.  If all is quiet and I cannot easily find him, I always check here first.